As school marketers, we spend a lot of time and energy ensuring the visual elements of our brand are consistent – the correct logo, colours and fonts.

But what about your school’s tone of voice? Does the tone of voice in your written communications and messaging match your school’s beliefs? If your logo wasn’t there, would you recognise your own content?

The benefits of customer testimonials and user-generated content to marketing are profound. Consumers are becoming savvier when conducting online research and require greater social proof when making a purchase decision. According to Nielsen, the top two most trusted sources for buyers are recommendations from family/friends (92 percent) and consumer reviews (70 percent).

What could be better than glowing appraisals of your school from your parent community? Whatever your marketing budget, word-of-mouth is still king when it comes to the best and most effective form of advertising. Parent testimonials can help to establish credibility and boost your school’s reputation. But knowing how to do testimonials well is something else.

Testimonials seem to scare people. Certainly not the readers. Readers love them. Most fear is exhibited by the people asking for a parent endorsement ... closely followed by people providing one who fear not knowing what to say, or how to say it.

In this fear lies a competitive advantage just waiting to be unleashed. If your parents are speaking on your behalf when your competitor is too scared to ask — or doesn’t have any delighted parents to approach — your school gains the credibility advantage.

Positive, genuine testimonials help break down barriers between your school and your parents. They create trust.

Parents want reassurance that you can deliver what you promise and there’s no better proof than the first-hand experience of a satisfied customer.

According to Hubspot, 78 percent of people say they trust online reviews just as much as recommendations from acquaintances. From booking hotels to hiring tradesman, people actively seek out reviews of schools before they commit.

Presenting the positive feedback generated by your school goes a long way to protecting and building the reputation and image of your brand. The right kind packs a punch, and here are four reasons why your school needs them:

Like everything in life, if we fail to plan, we may as well plan to fail, and search engine optimisation (SEO) is no different.

In our experience, many schools are putting a lot of time and effort into their website. They hire a team of professionals to tell them where everything should go, how it should look, what it should say and even how it should be said. You mull over each intrinsic detail until one day it is complete, and the team that you hired hand over the day-to-day maintenance to you. Delighted with your new school website and relieved that the project is complete, you and your team return to your ‘normal’ roles and responsibilities, logging on every now and again to update the content and ensure all is in order, right? …. Wrong!

On a recent business trip to the United Kingdom I stayed at a hotel in Whitehall. It's a nice hotel that's steeped in history. It's comfortable for me because I've stayed there before. I know how to get around London when this particular hotel is at the centre of my travel plans.